A What Now?
by ObsessiveFanNumber1
Summary: The other ghosts aren't very supportive of Clyde forming the Bad-Anon group. Meaning Blinky goes insane, Inky keeps his mouth shut, and Pinky observes and comments 'objectively'. Or maybe those reactions are just their first? Ghosts' real names and nicknames are both used. One-shot written purely for fun, may expand. Please read and review!


**Title: A What Now?  
Summary: The other ghosts aren't very supportive of Clyde forming the Bad-Anon group. Meaning Blinky goes insane, Inky keeps his mouth shut, and Pinky observes and comments 'objectively'. Or maybe those reactions are just their first? Ghosts' real names and nicknames are both used. One-shot written purely for fun, may expand. Please read and review!  
A/N: The minute I found out that the Bad-Anon meetings were created and run by Clyde, this idea was in my head. ;P In all seriousness, though, I LOVED THIS MOVIE! Cutest thing ever. :) Expect CalhounxFelix stories/one-shots coming. In the meantime, enjoy this one-shot!**

_**Quick Note – For Those Who Don't Know Off the Top of Their Head:  
Orange Ghost = Clyde/Pokey  
Blue Ghost = Inky/Bashful  
Pink Ghost = Pinky/Speedy (it still amazes me that the pink ghost is a boy…)  
Red Ghost = Blinky/Shadow**_

* * *

"You're _what_?" Shadow stared at Clyde, sure that he hadn't just heard the words. Positive that this wasn't actually happening. Clyde was not right there, so self-assured, so stupidly stubborn and confident in what he'd just said.

"I'm tired of chasing Pac-Man all the time," Clyde repeated. Inky went into panic mode again, and Speedy glanced up again before crossing something off of his latest plan. "We've been doing this since 1980, and I'm tired of it."

"So you're going Turbo," Speedy said in a 'for real, huh?' tone, flipping his paper over and starting over with the sketch of his plan. Shadow's eyes nearly turned red with rage.

"Don't you dare go Turbo on us," he growled, looming over his second-youngest brother. "We've had this going for twenty-five years, and if you even _think_ about going Turbo on us—"

Clyde turned deep blue for a moment, panicking. "Why would I go Turbo? I don't want to get unplugged any more than you do!"

"Yeah, Pokey?!" Shadow rarely used the nicknames of his two youngest brothers, about as much as any of them used Speedy's nickname. Only really when Pac-Man was around. "You say that you're sick of chasing Pac-Man, then it sure sounds like it!"

"He's mad," Speedy warned uncaringly, ignoring Inky inching behind him. "Clyde, he hasn't been this mad at you since the frog thing."

"Shut up! The frog thing wasn't—" Clyde started, but Shadow quickly brought them back to the real topic of the moment.

"Rule one of the arcade: DON'T GO AGAINST THE CODING! YOU KNOW THAT! PAC-MAN EATS THOSE STUPID PELLETS AND RUNS FROM US, AND WE CHASE HIM! THAT'S THE WAY THE GAME WORKS, AND WHATEVER YOU THINK OF IT, THAT'S THE WAY IT STAYS! YOU THINK THAT HALF-BAKED PIZZA AND THE REST OF US DOESN'T GET SICK OF RUNNING THAT SAME DUMB MAZE FIFTY-MILLION TIMES A DAY?! BUT ALL OF US DO IT ANYWAY! IT'S PART OF BEING THE MOST POPULAR GAME IN THE ENTIRE ARCADE! WE PUT UP WITH IT NO MATTER HOW ANNOYING IT GETS! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE SICK OF IT; SUCK IT UP AND DEAL WITH IT, OR ELSE WE'RE GETTING UNPLUGGED! YOU'RE THE FIRST OUT TO CHASE THAT BRAINLESS IDIOT EVERY LEVEL, MORON! IF YOU DON'T START THE GAME, WE'RE ALL GOING TO BE SHOVED OUT TO GAME CENTRAL PERMANENTLY!" The red ghost's shouting had both Clyde and Inky in panic mode, and the moment he was out of breath, Speedy was at his side, cutting a 'you're going a little far' look at him. Shadow ignored him and glared at Clyde, still furious. "I swear," he said angrily, "ever since the pizza's girlfriend got a game, you've been more messed up than ever." Then he turned his back on them and left at top speed.

Speedy sighed. "You—honestly, Clyde, you know he was friends with Turbo…"

"I said I'm not going Turbo!"

"You think that's easy to believe when you say you're sick of our coding right beforehand?" Speedy shook his head. Sometimes his younger brother's simple-minded way of thinking was unbelievable. "Seriously, you should know better. I'll go talk to him. You…work through…whatever the heck is making you think like this." Then he followed his older brother.

Clyde and Inky stared after them for a few moments. "…so what were you getting at with all of that?" Inky asked quietly when a couple of seconds had passed. Even among his brothers, the youngest ghost was quiet due to his extreme shyness and rarely spoke up at all.

"An idea that I had…I don't know how it'll work if Blinky's so against hearing me out, though…"

"Let Speedy talk to him, calm him down," Inky advised in the same soft voice. "Maybe then he'll listen without starting another screaming rant."

"Yeah…let's hope so…he might need it more than anybody…"

* * *

"Pokey isn't going Turbo."

"Shut up, _Pinky_. You heard him."

"Very few people hate Pac-Man as fiercely as you," Speedy muttered under his breath, a quiet retaliation for the nickname. Shadow didn't react. "Turbo got jealous of another game and kept game-hopping during the day. That's why they both got unplugged. Pokey's not going to do that. Come on, you know it takes forever to drag him out into Game Central! Game-hopping won't be a problem of his."

"_Game-hopping_ isn't what got Turbo unplugged," Shadow snarled, turning on him. "It's because the arcade manager thought there was a glitch in both games. Turbo was so busy in the other game that he wasn't in his own game when people did want to play it. If any of us aren't doing our part, the same thing's going to happen to us."

"I don't think Pokey's going to stop doing his part," Speedy said slowly. "He wouldn't have anything to do otherwise. You know he's more of a follower, so as long as we still are, he won't stop. Besides, I know how to catch a new idea when it comes up, and…well, as surprising as it is, he has one."

Shadow snorted disbelievingly. "So you think _Pokey_ has a good idea?"

"An idea that seems worth hearing out," Speedy said carefully, "without starting a screaming rant against him until he's done."

The oldest ghost was silent for a few moments, considering. As a general rule, he trusted Speedy's judgment on ideas a lot—definitely more than he'd trust anyone else's. After all, Speedy was the strategist of them, and he always employed Shadow's help with the plans. Despite the fact that Shadow would be happy just chasing Pac-Man down, he knew that the pink ghost could tell a good idea from a bad one without a second thought. But still…the possibility of getting unplugged…really, the only thing that scared Shadow, besides those stupid ghost-eating pellets that Pac-Man got during every freaking maze, and those didn't count…

"You don't have to accept whatever his idea is. Just hear it out before you veto it."

"…fine. If it's stupid, I blaming you as much as him."

"Done."

* * *

"I was talking to a couple of the other villains in the arcade—"

"When? You never go to Game Central without us," Shadow pointed out, interrupting.

"Hear him out," Speedy hissed. Shadow rolled his eyes, but he shut up. He might've been the oldest and leader in the game, but nobody argued with Speedy.

"—and turns out there's a few of them that are going a little stir-crazy, too."

"Like _who_?" As the ghost who hated Pac-Man the most by far, it was unfathomable to Shadow that any self-respecting villain would actually _not_ hate the hero in their game and want to do something else other than try and take down the hero during the day.

"Bowser, Dr. Eggman—you know, a few of the ones who never get left alone when the arcade's open," Clyde said. Shadow made a mental note that they were definitely _not_ self-respecting villains, but he didn't say anything this time. "So I thought about it while I was over at Tapper's, and I figured out what we need!"

The orange ghost looked so proud that Inky took pity and asked. "What?"

"A support group!"

"A what now?" Shadow glanced at him like he was out of his mind before his eyes cut to Speedy. "Okay. Twenty-four years since they screwed with your coding, Pokey, you've lost everything completely. You're both idiots. A _support group_, seriously?"

"Think about it," Speedy said quickly, aware that this was now his problem to make sense of. "If Clyde creates this, then the stir-crazy villains won't get so bored with their own games that they start to game-hop during the day. No game-hopping while the arcade's open means no unpluggings." He waited through the moments of silence as Shadow forced his flash-fire temper down and actually heard what his brother had said.

With a sigh, the red ghost realized that Speedy had a point. Despite how much he hated Pac-Man, Shadow did still have other friends among the arcade, and less unpluggings would mean less cases like Turbo. "Whatever. Have your group…thing. But those of us are happy with the way things are had better not have to go."

* * *

"Pokey's going to pay for making us spend Friday night in Game Central," Shadow muttered angrily, sulking.

"Technically, he's not 'making' us. He wanted us to stay for the 'Bad-Anon' meeting," Speedy pointed out.

"Like that's happening. Unlike him, I'm happy with the way things are in our game. It's gotten us through twenty-five years, hasn't it?"

"Well, Clyde _is_ heading the meeting," Inky said softly. "It kind of makes sense for it to be in our game, right?"

"No," Shadow said, steaming. "They could have it out here."

"Yeah, a group to make all the villains with low self-esteem feel better about their role being held in plain sight of the heroes," Speedy said, sarcasm slipping into his voice. "Great idea."

"Shut it, Speedy." Shadow sighed. "At least he's not making us sit through it."

* * *

**A/N: Nerd knowledge time! :D The original **_**Pac-Man **_**arcade game came out in 1980, which means this one-shot is set in 2005. In 1981, **_**Ms. Pac-Man**_** was released; to give her some same-gender competition, Clyde was renamed "Sue", hence Shadow referencing "since the pizza's (Pac-Man's) girlfriend got a game, you've been more messed up than ever." Because really, the creators changing his name to a girl's name had to have messed with his mind some. (I still think that if they were going to do that, they should've at least changed Pinky's name instead.) The frog thing that Speedy and Clyde mentioned at the beginning is a reference to **_**Pac-Man World 2**_**, where the first boss fight is against Clyde (though his and Blinky's names are switched) and he has a giant frog weapon that he literally tells you how to beat.**

**Um…I think that's all the nerd knowledge stuff… I went with calling the ghosts by whatever name I did for no reason other than I like calling them by that name better. Exception being Shadow/Blinky—I actually like both of his names, but I decided to with Shadow. Even though it makes me think of the Sonic character. XD Their "age order" was decided by me and has no basis except for the logic in my mind. The personalities are mainly based on how they are in the games, exception being Clyde since he was actually smart in the movie. I think that's all…**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Please review, and I'll give you free cookies~ ;)**


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